Witty books based on Bible stories tickle while teaching

PORTLAND, Ore. - In Mike Thaler's theology, the Bible stories are as wacky as they are wise and the word of God is packed with puns.

With 130 children's books and sales of 6 million to his credit, Thaler has turned his hand to Scripture and turned the Bible upside down. Out fall the same old stories, retold with humor, replete with whimsical and intricate drawings by Dennis Adler that delight children and crack up the adults who are reading to them.

In the Heaven and Mirth series' first book, "Adam and the Apple Turnover," God creates heaven and Earth and commands all living creatures to multiply, "except for the amoebas, they divided."

Eve experiments with forbidden fruit and a box of Snake and Bake. Cain and Abel, in a story titled "Sibling Quibbling," labor over competing 4-H projects at the county fair. Lot survives the destruction of Sodom and then embarks on a new business venture - a camel-lot.

In "Moses: Take Two Tablets and Call Me in the Morning," the Israelites have manna every which way: "They had boiled manna, baked manna, barbecued manna. They had manna teriyaki, manna fricassee, souffle of manna. They had manna tacos, manna pizza and manna-cotti. They even tried MANNA-HELPER, but after a while they began to complain."

Not to worry. God sends them quail for a change of pace. The Israelites got quail. Bible story readers get Thaler.

"It's the greatest story never read," Thaler is fond of saying of the Bible.

"God brought me this far in my life to write these books," he said in an interview. "I want people to go back to the Bible, to see the richness in it and the wisdom about God, about us and about our relationships."

At the end of each story, after Goldie, "the miner prophet," unearths a nugget of wisdom, Thaler refers readers to the "real story," citing its chapter and verse in the Good Book, what Thaler, in his third year as a practicing Christian, clearly sees as the Better Book.

"When I became a Christian, my secular friends in New York said, 'You'll lose your muse.' The truth is, I've got the greatest muse there is, the great Creator."

Thaler didn't set out to retell Bible stories. But one night, after watching a well-meaning grandfather struggle to read Bible stories to his squirming grandchildren (the stories were boring and the kids were bored), Thaler excused himself into his bedroom and wrote "Noah's Rainbow: The Zoo's Cruise." That was the start. To date he's "written" 300 stories. "I don't really write them," he said. "God gives them to me as presents." Many of them come to him in the middle of the night.

On Wednesdays at noon, always in the same booth at Jake's Famous Crawfish, Thaler lunches with his illustrator, Adler, and Clyde Van Cleve, the graphic designer who oversees production of each book. All three are a little surprised, in this technological age of e-mail and fax machines - when collaborators don't need to live near each other - that they do.

Over weekly lunches, Thaler, a former cartoonist, looks over Adler's preliminary sketches and sometimes offers suggestions. Adler, who's been a Christian all his life, offers his perspective on Thaler's stories. Van Cleve mediates between the two of them and the publisher, Chariot Victor, in Colorado Springs, Colo.

All three agree that theirs is a good working relationship. Thaler knows that a picture, especially one of Adler's watercolor, pen and ink drawings bursting with comic characters and visual puns, will keep readers coming back to the books. Adler, who grew up on these Bible stories, marvels at how Thaler is able to put a new twist on old tales without tarnishing tried-and-true messages. Van Cleve is pleased that the books don't "dumb down" stories or art, instead respecting both young and adult readers.

To date, Chariot Victor has published three books in the Heaven and Mirth series, including the first featuring New Testament stories: "The Prodigal Son: O Brother!" Plans call for three more this year and six in 2001. Thaler says he hopes the series will culminate in a larger collection, the Heaven and Mirth Bible.

Thaler has read the stories in churches and bookstores from Oregon to the former Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia. "I'll go anywhere to read these stories," he said. "It's sad to see what people have done to God." Too many people see God narrowly, "as if they're looking through a keyhole when they could open the door and walk into his presence."

Thaler admits that his comic approach to the Bible may offend some readers, but he believes there's been enough attention to the stern and serious side of the Bible and it's time to illuminate the lighter side. And he believes he can do that without making the angels weep.

"I want to excite kids about the Bible the same way 'Sesame Street' excites kids about the alphabet and counting - through imagination," he said. "The Bible is the most exciting, valuable book I know - as is its author. This is my way of introducing children to the excitement - these books prove that God created laughter!"